


Is That Them?

by MagicLia16



Series: Trevor Wilson's Not Crazy (a series of jatp reveal fics) [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode 9 - Stand Tall, Gen, Ghost Reveal, Post-Canon, Trevor Wilson has no idea what's going on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26463130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicLia16/pseuds/MagicLia16
Summary: Trevor Wilson just got back from a run when he sees a video on his daughter's computer of her ex-best-friend singing with his dead bandmates. He promptly gets tickets for their performance that night. What does he think as he watches it?
Series: Trevor Wilson's Not Crazy (a series of jatp reveal fics) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928911
Comments: 36
Kudos: 419





	1. The Concert

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I binged watched this show all in one night and now I’m crazy desperate for fan fiction about it, and I don’t see anyone writing about Trevor/Bobby’s reaction to the performance yet, so I’m taking it into my own hands! Enjoy!

Trevor comes back inside after a good run, and is quite exhausted from the workout. As he enters the house all sweaty and ready to go take a shower, he hears some music playing from his daughter’s computer. He walks over to Carrie and sees that Julie’s on the screen playing the piano. It makes him happy that she’s gotten back into music. It was so sad when her mom died and she stopped playing. 

The music picks up and all of a sudden his excitement of seeing Julie play fades to shock and disbelief as he sees the faces of his long-dead bandmates playing along with her! Carrie throws out a comment about them being holograms, but how would she have created holograms out of the dead members of a 90s rock band? 

Trevor‘s mind races, a million thoughts running through his head all at once. He has no idea what’s going on. Then Carrie mentions how Julie will be playing the Oprpheum tonight, and he knows he has to be there to see whatever this is in person. 

~~~

Trevor and Carrie arrive at the Orpheum about a half hour before the performance is set to start. He can’t contain the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he takes a seat and thinks about the possibilities of what that video could entail. 

Thirty minutes have never felt longer as he sits there waiting for Julie to come on stage. When she walks to the piano, his heart speeds up even faster and he takes a deep breath to try to calm down. He loves what she says about her mom. He thinks it’s so sweet that she believes her mom is still there, watching over here. 

Then Julie mentions ‘three special friends’ and talks about how it was their dream to play in that space and he leans forward, wondering if she’s really talking about _them._ Carrie scoffs and mutters a mean comment under her breath and Trevor spares a moment to make a mental note to talk to her about her snarkiness later, but all other thoughts are pushed out of his mind when Julie begins to play. 

He prepares himself for the possibility of what he’s about to see. As he listens to the beginning of the song, he notices the killer melody. It’s a very well-written song, one that he’s enjoying quite a lot. The song continues and he begins to wonder if the holograms - or ‘phantoms’ she’s calling them - will even show up. 

Just as he thinks this, reality comes crashing down around him as Alex appears along with a drum set right in front of his eyes. He can’t believe it! Alex is _right there!_ How is this even possible? 

A few moments later, Reggie appears as well with his bass, strumming along to the music. Julie starts to sing the second verse and he can’t be quite certain, but Trevor thinks that he sees a small look of relief on her face as she sings. 

His brain is still trying to process that they’re _really there_ as a figure begins to flicker on the right side of the stage. How is this POSSIBLE?! When they died, they didn’t have the technology to record a hologram like that and even if they did, why would they do it without telling him? That and he’d never heard this song before and Luke used to be so excited about every song they wrote that he would share it with them immediately. Trevor had many, _many_ questions about how this is actually happening. 

The flicker keeps happening and he has a brief thought that there could be an issue with the projector or whatever is making the holograms when all of a sudden, there he is: Luke, looking exactly the same as he did the day he died. All of them do. It’s unreal to hear that voice again after all those years. He repeats that same phrase again in his mind: How the HELL is this possible???!!!!! 

Julie and Reggie turn to each other. They sing towards each other and look like they’re really connecting, but how could that be the case if he’s not really there? Trevor doesn’t understand it. A little voice in his mind whispers ‘what if they’re not holograms? What if they’re actually on stage?’ but he pushes it away. 

Julie walks over to Luke and they both share the same microphone while walking down to the front of the stage. Luke’s voice even fades out when he gets too far from the mic, like he’s really singing through it. And the way they look at each other, it’s like they really know each other. 

Suddenly, a memory of a few weeks ago comes back, when he was meditating and all that weird stuff happened like with the stereo, the shower, and getting locked in the bathroom. His old name had even been written on the mirror in steam. His therapist had said it was just anxiety and his brain imagining it, but now he’s not sure. Could that have been...

The song ends and Bobby - _Trevor -_ is pulled back into the present. They’re right there, standing at the edge of the stage. Could it really be them?

All four of them take a bow and Reggie, Alex, and Luke’s holograms or whatever they are (he won’t even think of the other word coming to his mind) all disappear, leaving Julie alone on the stage once more. She looks shocked once she realizes they’re gone, he notices, but she quickly recovers and gives everyone a big smile and a wave before she exits the stage. 

He’s so distracted that he barely even notices when Panic! begins to perform. He’s absorbed in his thoughts thinking about what he had just witnessed. He still doesn’t know quite what he’s seen, but he knows one thing: he needs to talk to Julie. 

**TBC**

  
  
  



	2. The Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thanks for the wonderful responses to the first chapter! I have heard your pleas, so here it is: chapter 2! I hope you like it :)

It’s been a few days since the band’s performance at the Orpheum. Trevor has been super busy and  _ finally  _ has a free moment to go and talk to Julie about the fact that her band is basically Sunset Curve 2.0… somehow. 

He takes one of his more discrete cars over to her house, nervous all the way there. He has no idea what he’s gonna say. How does he approach her on the fact that he knows her bandmates and that they’re dead. 

He mentally face-palms himself. Of course she’d already know that, if she did her research on the holograms that he found. Unless they aren’t -- NO! He’s  _ not  _ going there until he talks to Julie. 

When he gets to her house, he takes a moment to himself before he gets out of the car. He breathes in, breathes out, and begins to walk up to her front door. 

He knocks firmly on the front door, determined not to show just how nervous he is about this conversation. 

Julie opens the door and she’s wearing a red crop top and some sweatpants. She looks just like her mom, he thinks. 

“Trevor, hi!” She greets, before she thinks of something. “What… are you doing here?” 

Here he goes. “Hi Julie. I’m here to talk to you about your band.” He decides to leave it there until she invites him in, so that he doesn’t sound completely crazy. 

Julie looks behind her, nods, and steps outside with him. “Let’s talk about this in the studio, if you don’t mind. Dad’s a bit busy.” 

He follows Julie back to the studio where Sunset Curve used to play. It’s been too long since he’s been in here. He used to spend so much time here, first with Luke, Reggie, and Alex, and then with Carrie, Julie, and her mom. Being in here brings back back all those good memories, but also a few ones that he doesn’t care to dwell on. 

Julie sits down on the chair facing the door and motions for him to have a seat on the couch. As he sits down, he notices some band equipment sitting around but he doesn’t mention anything. He just wants to hear what Julie has to say about all of this. 

They sit in an awkward silence for a moment or two, both clearly expecting the other to speak first. He decided since he was the one to come over, he should be the one to start. But what to say - that was a tough one. He starts at the beginning. 

“I used to be in a band in high school. There were four of us and we were all really close. We loved to play music together. We had big dreams of playing big theaters and becoming famous. We got so close to really living out our dream. After years of work, we were finally going to play the Orpheum, but that night, before the concert started, my other three bandmates passed away from a accident. 

“That was twenty-five years ago and I never thought it would be possible to see them again, until Friday night when you and your band played the Orpheum.” 

Julie sighs, clearly knowing where this is going. 

“I just… I need to know, how did you do it? I can’t figure it out. I have some really crazy theories and I really don’t want to speculate anymore. Am I crazy? Is it even them?! 

He cuts off and sees Julie scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. She keeps sliding it around in all directions. He’s a bit confused. 

Julie flips the paper over so that he can’t see what’s written, not that he was looking, and turns back to him. “You’re not crazy.”

Relief washes over him, that he wasn’t just seeing things. She clearly has more to say, so he quiets his internal monologue and focuses on listening to her. 

“They’re not holograms, Trevor, they’re ghosts.” 

There it was. The idea that he had forced to the back of his mind, not letting himself think of it because it was too crazy. But Julie just said it, confirmed it. It took a  _ long  _ time to process enough that he could speak again. 

“So that really was them on stage?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

It was a lot to take in, even if he’d speculated it before. He decides to mention something else that had been bothering him a lot recently, that all of a sudden makes a little more sense. “About a week ago, some… unexplainable things happened at my house. Was that them too?”

Julie lets out a long sigh. “Yeah. They’d just found out that you stole their songs and they were  _ not  _ happy.” 

Trevor moves to speak, but Julie talks over him before he has a chance to say something. 

“Actually, they’d like to talk to you.” 

He looks around the room, and then mentally scolds himself because they’re ghosts. They wouldn’t be able to be seen by anyone. Well, except for Julie. And when they were on stage. He’s a bit confused by this whole situation. 

“They’re here?” He hadn’t thought they would be listening in on her conversation with Julie. And wait… “They can talk to me? How does that work”

“Yes, they’re here. Alex is on the chair to your left, Reggie is sitting by his guitar over there, and Luke is eyeing you from the balcony. And yes, you can talk to them. Ever since the Orpheum they’ve been able to be seen for a limited time after we play music.”

Julie walks over to the piano and Trevor starts freaking out. This is moving way too fast. He’s about to talk to them! After twenty-five years! He can’t believe it; but then, the last ten minutes have been filled with unbelievable things. 

He’s pulled from his thoughts when he hears a few chords played on the piano, quickly followed by a beat drop and suddenly there they are. All three of them. Right there in front of him. Again. And he’s about to talk to them! They play a few more measures before ending. 

They all stand there and stare at each other for a second, and Trevor, despite everything he’s heard and thought he accepted, can’t. Believe. His. Eyes. 

After another awkward moment of silence, Julie finally coughs and everyone moves to put down their instruments. Julie murmurs a quick something about giving them a moment alone, but Trevor doesn’t really register it. He’s too busy looking at them. They haven’t changed at all and he’s amazed. He gives them a bit of a smile and a quick “hi.” It’s not returned. 

Come to think of it, they don’t look very happy at the reunion. Could they still be mad about the whole song-stealing thing? He really hopes that they aren’t. Explaining everything that happened would be really challenging to get out without it seeming wrong.

Luke steps forward and takes a seat on the coffee table, trying and failing to seem intimidating with his body language, exactly like he used to. The only difference is that now the words coming out of his mouth were  _ very  _ intimidating. 

“Why’d you do it, Bobby? Those were my songs; my music. They were not yours to record and make millions off. The least you could have done was give some credit to your DEAD BANDMATES and their families!!!” 

Trevor sighs, and prepares to explain the worst decision of his life to the people that it hurt the most. He takes a moment to collect his thoughts. 

“All of this, it wasn’t my intention at first. When you died, I was devastated. You guys were my family and you were gone. I didn’t know what to do. I decided to get your songs out, so that people would know who you were when you were gone. It was going to be your legacy!”

He pauses, collecting himself again. 

“But then, people stopped caring about the ‘dead teenagers’ and all they wanted was my own stuff. You know me, I’m no writer. I can’t come up with anything that’s at all interesting to listen to. All I do is play the music. So, I did the only thing I could think of to keep the fame and money: I continued to use your music, but I changed my name and stopped talking about Sunset Curve. Eventually the band was lost in the changing of times, but I wasn’t. 

“I’ve hated myself for it ever since, but as much as I’ve thought about it, I’ve never been able to bring myself to come clean about what I did. I came really close, once, right before Carrie was born. I didn’t want my girl to be raised on a lie, but I couldn’t bear to lose the stability and fame that I had created for myself, so I talked myself out of it. I am so,  _ so  _ sorry.”

Trevor -  _ Bobby  _ \- lowers his eyes, unable to look at the boys whose memories he tried to keep alive but ended up destroying forever, all because he was too selfish to give up the solo fame and fortune. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Luke move and come sit next to him on the couch. It’s weird seeing him sit down without feeling the couch bounce in response.  _ Ghosts,  _ he chuckles to himself, allowing a moment of good emotion.  _ Who knew?  _

“Bobby, I’m not saying that we won’t find it in ourselves to forgive you one day, but you really hurt us. It’s going to take a while before we’re truly over it.”

He knew it was too good to be true. He made too many mistakes and can never make up for it. 

“That being said, I propose a truce. We got most of our initial frustration out when we decided to ‘haunt’ you,” he said with a bit of a laugh. 

“It was actually a lot of fun!” Reggie added on. 

He can’t believe it! (That seems to be happening  _ a lot _ ). They don’t forgive him per-say, and rightfully so, but they’re willing to start moving forward. That’s good enough for him! Finally, a smile appears on his face. 

“Thank you.” 

They sit for another moment of silence, but this one is different from the others. It’s still a little awkward, but in a really good way. As they sit there, a thought comes to his mind. He decides to voice it, even though it may lower the mood. He’s really curious. 

He starts off cautiously. 

“Can I ask, how did you become ghosts? Does that happen to everyone when they die or is it a special case…?” He trails off, not knowing how else to put it. 

Alex speaks this time and it’s happening all over again, the relief at hearing these voices again.

“All we know is that all ghosts have some kind of unfinished business that they need to solve before they can cross over.”

“We thought playing the Orpheum was our unfinished business, but we’re still here, so apparently not,” Says Reggie. Goodness, he missed them. 

Just then, Julie peeks her head into the studio. “Hey guys. Everything going ok?” When she sees some nods, she opens the doors and walks in. She turns to Trevor. 

“Are  _ you  _ ok? I’m sure this is a big shock, learning that ghosts are real.”

“It was really weird at first, but we talked a bit. That helped.”

Then, in walks Carlos, apparently having seen Julie head down to the studio and wanted to see what was going on. 

Julie turns to face her little brother. “Carlos, what are you doing here?” 

Carlos ignores her, having noticed who was in the room. 

“Trevor!” He runs to give the man a big hug. 

“Hey, Carlos! Long time, no see eh?” 

Trevor can hear the smile in Carlos’ voice when he says “too long” into his shirt. 

When Carlos pulls back and turns around, he finally notices the ghost boys standing in the middle of the room. He then turns back to look at Trevor with a bit of a freaked-out look on his face. 

“Jules,” he says, “those are some phantom-tastic holograms that you’ve got there.” He moves closer to her and whispers - not quietly enough - out of the corner of his mouth “ _ what are they doing here? _ ” So apparently Carlos knows about them, he thinks to himself. 

Julie lets out a laugh and suddenly Trevor is transported back to when she was a little girl, laughing with her mom as she made a cheeky music pun while she tried to teach Carrie and Julie how to play the piano. He hasn’t heard that laugh in a year, and then all of a sudden she’s finally feeling better. He wonders if it has something to do with the three ghost boys that came into her life. If so, he can’t thank them enough for bringing music back to her. 

“Carlos, he knows.”

“He KNOWS?!” 

“Yeah, I do,” he says. “We actually used to all be in a band together before they died.” 

He sees carlos’ eyes go wide, like he’s realized something.

“You’re the fourth guy on the demo that I found! I was wondering who that was!”

Trevor was a bit confused. How did Carlos get a Sunset Curve demo? Unless… did she keep the one they gave her that night? He didn’t know she had. It makes him happy to know that she kept it, whether because she liked it or if it was a reminder of how they first met. Either way, it was nice to know she held onto it. 

“Can I hear you guys jam? You make some really good music together!” 

It’s such a Carlos thing, to ignore the tension and go straight for the fun. Still, Trevor is quick to shoot that idea down. “Carlos, they really don’t want to play with me. I just came over here to talk. I guess I’d better be leaving anyway.” He turns to the guys. “Thanks for letting me talk to you about all of this. I’m really sorry about… everything.”

He gets up and walks out the door, but before he can close it, he hears a voice. 

“Bobby,” he turns around and it’s Alex. “We would love it if you played with us. We’ve missed rocking with you.” 

He’s very surprised that they would invite him to do this, but he’s missed them so much and could never turn down an invitation like that. 

~~~

They had some difficulty deciding what they were going to play, but they settled for some good old Journey, something that they all knew and wouldn’t cause any awkwardness between them. The next hour was filled with music and the feeling in the air of old friends reconnecting. Trevor knew that they still didn’t forgive him and they had no reason to, but he had to admit that it was amazing that they let him join them for a day. He thought that just maybe, this was their first step to reconciliation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
